Baltic Ministers endorse commitment for closer cooperation on offshore energy

Brussels, October 1 - Neftegaz.RU. Energy Ministers for the 8 EU Member States (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Poland and Sweden) in the Baltic Sea region and Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson have signed a declaration committing themselves to closer cooperation on offshore wind in the Baltic Sea.

The declaration underlines the need to scale up offshore wind energy capacity in the EU by 2050, estimated to be at least 20 times today’s installed capacity in the EU-27 (12GW). A recent study concludes that in the Baltic Sea alone, the potential for offshore wind power is 93 GW.

The declaration emphasises that a significant increase in offshore energy can be most efficiently achieved through a cooperative, regional approach. To this end, all sides have embraced the idea of creating a new specific working area within the High-level group of the Baltic energy market interconnection plan (BEMIP).

The signature came at the beginning of the Ministerial session of the Pomeranian Offshore Wind Conference in Szczecin, Poland. During the conference, Commissioner Kadri Simson said:

"Since the creation of the BEMIP high-level group we have managed to create a truly integrated regional market. It is a perfect example of the ‘going further by going together’ approach, a testament to what we can achieve. And I hope to see this long-standing tradition continue, because the road ahead is paved with other crucial steps where cooperation will be key".